Jon ArayataJon T. Arayata, head of SKYBIZ, seems to have spent all his working years preparing to build the fastest growing broadband service in the country today, SKY Broadband.

A holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering, he first worked in 1993 as the information technology (IT) consultant of Aboitiz & Company, advising its senior management on the best ways to align IT infrastructure with its corporate goals. He then moved to Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. as IT manager, transferred to Corporate Engineering then shifted his career to Corporate Sales to roll out the then first DSL (digital subscriber line) service in the country.

In 2005, he joined Bayan Telecommunications Inc., ending up as head of its corporate group, Bayan Biz. Known for its customer-centric philosophy, Bayan Biz became the darling of the socalled O&O or offshore and outsource service providers. This was also the time that he became active in the contact center association by being elected as a member of its board of directors.

In 2012, ABS-CBN Corporation president Carlo L. Katigbak, who at the time headed Access for ABS-CBN, asked Arayata to become general manager of Destiny Cable. The transition team for the Destiny purchase worked to successfully integrate operations, migrate customers and streamline processes to ensure best practices are retained and uniformly absorbed by the organization. Arayata was then elected as a member of the Philippine Cable Television Association board of directors and at present serves as its chairman.

A year and a half later, Arayata was concurrently assigned to head SKYBIZ.

“SKY is very customer-centric on the residential or retail side of the business. We had to build SKYBIZ from the ground up. The discipline needed for corporate was not there yet. We had to set up our own technical team, infrastructure, sales, marketing, product line, customer engineering and account management… and now, even our own NOC (network operations center). We needed a totally different skill set to grow SKYBIZ. We had to train our people, establish our own processes and come up with products that could compete with our rival telcos,” recalls Arayata.

Aiming for P1B

And build they did, growing revenues from P400 million and aiming for P1 billion from the corporate market after three and a half years.

“There is just so much potential in the market and it’s only shared by two giant telcos. SKYBIZ just has to get a portion of this lucrative business. To do that, it must prove the reliability of its infrastructure, superiority of its account management and strong customer service among clients. Over the years, I believe that we have built the foundation to support our position in the market to be the best alternative data/ broadband service provider in the Philippines,” says Arayata.

Overall, he believes SKYBIZ still has a lot of room to grow as it aspires to be a significant player in the broadband business, serving corporate, small & medium enterprises or SMEs, and multi-dwelling units.

Customers, country deserve the best

“But we have to double the effort. The market is evolving, customer requirements are rapidly changing, our competitors are dynamic and aggressive. We have to stay visible and relevant. ”

To him, broadband service is a very concrete way to fasttrack the development of the country.

“It shows our nationalism because as a service company, we are providing one that is essential for national growth. And we have to deliver the best service—wow at saya— because our customers and our country deserve to get only the best,” Arayata says.

His message for LopezLink readers: “I just want to take this opportunity to introduce SKYBIZ to our fellow Lopez Group kapamilya. Let us show you what we can do for you. SKYBIZ can help you with your needs as a company or an entrepreneur. Talk to us about your service requirements and we can assure you that as your kapamilya, your needs will be our top priority. ”

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